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Lawyers on wheels: ‘solidarity bus’ represents Kyrgyzstan’s landless women

A photo taken on May 7, 2015 shows World War Two veteran Sardar Akylbekov, 93, playing with his grandchildren in front of his house in the village of Tok-Bay, some 20km of Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek. (AFP)
Updated 10 December 2018
Reuters
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Lawyers on wheels: ‘solidarity bus’ represents Kyrgyzstan’s landless women

  • At independence in 1991, when state property was privatised, every citizen was given an equal plot of land, but it was often registered under the name of the male household head
Updated 10 December 2018
Reuters

KARA-KULJA, Kyrgyzstan: In a cold, sparsely lit Soviet-era room, sitting close to the heater, Ainura Ibraimjanova taps at her computer. In this rural district in southern Kyrgyzstan, she is the only lawyer providing free legal aid.
Just back from court in the Alai district, Ibraimjanova is attending to a stream of clients in thick coats and clutching documents. They are in need of help with alimony, divorce or family land disputes.
“The laws have changed considerably since Kyrgyzstan gained its independence, because there was a real gap in legal frameworks and customs — with many people breaching laws in favor of customs,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Land, a scarce and highly-prized resource in this former communist country, is of huge social value, she said, with disputes over it particularly affecting women.
“Having or not having a piece of land decides who you are ... It’s a very important matter, especially in a rural area,” said Ibraimjanova.
At independence in 1991, when state property was privatised, every citizen was given an equal plot of land, but it was often registered under the name of the male household head.
That meant women often missed out on claiming land rights, especially if they got married or divorced, Ibraimjanova said.
“According to Kyrgyz tradition, people treat men and women in different ways. If a girl grows up and chooses to take her share of land with her and separate from her big family, this really looks strange in accordance with local tradition and the family is usually opposed to it,” she said. Although courts often rule in favor of women and in accordance with the law, executing such judgments can be arduous and take years, Ibraimjanova said.
“There are still many women who need to be supported and whose rights needs to be better protected.”
ON THE ROAD
Yet change is coming, even to remote regions like Alai — in part thanks to the “Bus of Solidarity.” The small van bounds along rural roads to bring lawyers, notaries and social workers to remote parts of the country to resolve villagers’ legal quandaries — for free.
It is supported by the justice ministry and the UN Development Programme (UNDP). On this day, it is headed for the craggy village of Kara-Kulja in southern Kyrgyzstan.
Among those waiting in the rain for the bus to arrive was Zoora Jumabaeva.
“I learned by chance that the bus was coming today,” Jumabaeva, a first-time user, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
She hoped the lawyers could resolve her complaint with the local bazaar after the new owner raised rents and forcibly removed her stall, which sells medicine for livestock, to a location outside the market.
Had the bus not come, Jumabaeva would have had to make an arduous two-hour journey on poor roads to the nearest town, Osh, to seek legal services.
In previous years, she would use informal mechanisms such as a council of elders to solve her disputes. But, she said, the fact that their decisions were not legally binding was frustrating.
And so, bearing the rain and cold, Jumabaeva huddled at a small desk inside a billowing blue tent to explain her dilemma.
“I’m losing my regular income and my family is suffering. I came here today to get some more legal advice on protecting my interests,” she told a lawyer.
“There are many other women and young families (at the market) who suffer more than me (from being evicted), as this was their only income source, so I’m trying to act on their behalf to solve a common problem.”
The lawyer, Jazgul Kolmatova, who practices in Osh, is no stranger to the Bus of Solidarity having made several journeys. Jumabaeva’s paperwork, she said, was scant.
“She came to us with quite a difficult and complex problem, but her case is a fairly common one,” Kolmatova told the Thomson Reuters Foundation as she took down notes.
Boarding the bus provides a chance to resolve knotty legal issues that have often been building for years, she said.
“I joined the bus of solidarity because I know that the rural population — and especially women — are very poorly educated in legal issues, and I want to make my contribution to changing this situation,” she said.

SOCIAL PRESSURE
Since the bus began running in 2016 it has visited about 193 villages and carried out more than 7,000 consultations, according to UNDP.
But meetings are often brief, and complex cases require follow-up.
With a luminous orange hijab wrapped around her hair and fighting back tears, Gulzina Ashimzhanova, 37, said she met Ibraimjanova when the Bus of Solidarity came to her village earlier this year.
Ashimzhanova and her five children were made homeless when she left her alcoholic husband, who she said was violent. Ashimzhanova wanted to divorce him and secure her share of the property.
“When we went to the village we saw the bus and met Ainura (Ibraimjanova). She told us about this free legal assistance, she explained everything,” she said.
“We were consulted from there, then she said to bring the documents and she could help me. She said we could divide the house and get alimony via the court.”
Ashimzhanova, who has been clinically depressed, tried to get her share of a house, 5,500 square meters of land and an apple orchard — all registered in her husband’s name.
“I need to get a house for my children,” Ashimzhanova said. “I don’t want my rights to be violated.”
For Ibraimjanova, the case — though legally clear-cut — carries a heavy social stigma, because Ashimzhanova left her husband and wants an equal share of their common property.
“Gulzina (Ashimzhanova) from my point of view is very brave to act like this, and I’m sure her example can inspire many others,” Ibraimjanova said.
“I told her if she does fight for her rights that could set a good example for other women in Kyrgyzstan too — there could be many others who are also shy, and this step of hers could give them a push.”

Topics: Kyrgyzstan

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Palestinians turn to local soda in boycott of Israel-linked goods

Updated 15 November 2024
AFP
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Palestinians turn to local soda in boycott of Israel-linked goods

  • Chat Cola has tapped into Palestinians’ desire to shun brands perceived as too supportive of Israel
  • The Palestinian economy’s dependence on Israeli products has made a broader boycott difficult
Updated 15 November 2024
AFP

SALFIT, Palestinian Territories: In a red box factory that stands out among the drab hills of the West Bank, Chat Cola’s employees race to quench Palestinians’ thirst for local products since the Gaza war erupted last year.
With packaging reminiscent of Coca-Cola’s iconic red and white aluminum cans, Chat Cola has tapped into Palestinians’ desire to shun brands perceived as too supportive of Israel.
“The demand for (Chat Cola) increased since the war began because of the boycott,” owner Fahed Arar, said at the factory in the occupied West Bank town of Salfit.
Julien, a restaurateur in the city of Ramallah further south, said he has stocked his classic red Coca-Cola branded fridge with the local alternative since the war began in October last year.
Supermarket manager Mahmud Sidr described how sales of Palestinian products surged over the past year.
“We noticed an increase in sales of Arab and Palestinian products that do not support (Israel),” he said.
Although it does not supply Israeli troops in Gaza with free goods — as some US fast food brands have been rumored to — Coca-Cola is perceived as simply too American.
The United States provides enormous military assistance to Israel, aid that has continued through the devastating military campaign in Gaza that Israel launched in response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack of October 7, 2023.
Coca-Cola did not respond to a request for comment, but it says the company does not support religion nor “any political causes, governments or nation states.”
A manager of the National Beverage Company, the Palestinian firm bottling Coca-Cola in the Palestinian territories, said the company had not noticed the return of many products from local stores.
There was however a decline of up to 80 percent in the drink’s sales to foreign-named chains, said the manager, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The national boycott movement has had a big impact,” Arar said.
Ibrahim Al-Qadi, head of the Palestinian economy ministry’s consumer protection department, said that 300 tons of Israeli products were destroyed over the past three months after passing their sell-by date for want of buyers.
The Palestinian economy’s dependence on Israeli products has made a broader boycott difficult and Chat Cola’s popularity partly stems from being one of the few quality Palestinian alternatives.
“There’s a willingness to boycott if the Palestinian producers can produce equivalently good quality and price,” the head of the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, Raja Khalidi, said.
Khalidi said the desire for Palestinian substitutes has grown sharply since the war in Gaza began, but is stifled by “an issue of production capacity which we lack.”
A boycott campaign has been more successful in neighboring Arab states less dependent on Israeli goods.
In neighboring Jordan, the franchisee of French retail giant Carrefour, Dubai-based conglomerate Majid Al-Futtaim Group announced it was shutting down all its operations after activists called for a boycott.
Chat Cola’s Arar is proud of developing a quality Palestinian product.
Staff at the company’s Salfit factory wear sweaters emblazoned with the words “Palestinian taste” in Arabic and the Palestinian flag.
After opening the factory in 2019, Arar plans to open a new one in Jordan to meet international demand and avoid the complications of operating in the occupied West Bank.
Although the plant still turns out thousands of cans of Chat, one production line has been shut down for more than a month.
Israeli authorities have held up a large shipment of raw materials at the Jordanian border, hitting output, Arar said, adding he can meet only 10 to 15 percent of demand for his product.
As Arar spoke, Israeli air defenses intercepted a rocket likely launched from Lebanon, creating a small cloud in view of the plant.
But with war have come opportunities.
“There has never been the political support for buying local that there is now, so it’s a good moment for other entrepreneurs to start up,” economist Khalidi said.

Topics: War on Gaza Palestine

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Yoko Ono owns Lennon watch, Swiss court rules

Updated 14 November 2024
AFP
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Yoko Ono owns Lennon watch, Swiss court rules

  • The highly rare Patek Philippe 2499 timepiece was given to the former Beatle on October 9, 1980 for his 40th birthday
  • “Yoko Ono is the owner of John Lennon’s watch,” the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland ruled
Updated 14 November 2024
AFP

GENEVA: Yoko Ono is the rightful owner of a watch she gifted to her husband John Lennon shortly before he was murdered, Switzerland’s supreme court ruled Thursday after it resurfaced at an auctioneers.
The highly rare Patek Philippe 2499 timepiece was given to the former Beatle on October 9, 1980 for his 40th birthday, two months before he was shot dead.
The 18-carat yellow gold Swiss watch was stolen and passed through various hands before a collector took it to a Geneva auction house for a valuation in 2014. The auctioneers contacted Ono, who did not know the watch was missing.
“Yoko Ono is the owner of John Lennon’s watch,” the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland ruled, as it dismissed the collector’s appeal against a judgment by the Geneva Cantonal Court of Justice.
Ono bought the watch in New York City in 1980 and had the back engraved with the inscription: “(JUST LIKE) STARTING OVER LOVE YOKO 10-9-1980 N.Y.C.”
Released in late October 1980, a few months after it was recorded, “(Just Like) Starting Over” was Lennon’s last single issued during his lifetime.
Lennon was shot dead outside the couple’s apartment building in New York on December 8, 1980. The watch was the last gift Ono gave Lennon before his murder.
The Patek Philippe was listed in the inventory of Lennon’s estate and was kept in a room in their apartment.
A Turkish man who had been Ono’s driver from 1995 to 2006, handed over the watch to an intermediate owner in 2010, along with 86 other items that had belonged to Lennon, court documents showed.
It was later handed to a German auction house, which sold it in 2014, for 600,000 euros, to an Italian collector living in Hong Kong.
The collector gave it to a Geneva auction house for a valuation later that year. They raised the alarm with Ono.
In 2018, the collector filed a court action seeking to establish his status as the watch’s owner, with Ono opposing the move.
In 2022 a Geneva lower court found Ono was the sole owner — a decision upheld on appeal in 2023 by the higher Geneva Cantonal Court of Justice.
The Italian collector then appealed to the Federal Supreme Court, which upheld the cantonal court decision.
The Supreme Court said it was not disputed that Ono had inherited the watch after Lennon’s death.
The Cantonal Court of Justice found that the watch “had been stolen by the former driver,” the Supreme Court said, adding that there was no evidence to show that Ono intended to donate “something as special as the watch,” with its particular inscription.
“Since it is a stolen item, the collector, now the appellant, could not acquire ownership of the watch” when he purchased it in 2014, and according to German law, this applies “regardless of whether or not the purchaser was in good faith as to the origin of the item.”
Lennon’s watch is being held by the Italian dealer’s lawyer, under an agreement that it can only be released to the owner designated by a state court.
It should therefore return to Ono, now 91.

Topics: Yoko Ono John Lennon The Beatles Switzerland court

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Istanbul’s historic baths keep hammam tradition alive

Updated 13 November 2024
AFP
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Istanbul’s historic baths keep hammam tradition alive

  • For centuries, hammams were central to Ottoman society, and while they fell out of use in Turkiye with the advent of running water
Updated 13 November 2024
AFP

ISTANBUL: For centuries, hammams were central to Ottoman society, and while they fell out of use in Turkiye with the advent of running water, many are being restored to revive an ancient ritual bathing tradition.
Often featured in older Turkish films, hammam scenes are highly entertaining, with women not only bathing but enjoying these historical bathhouses as a place to socialize, eat, drink and even dance.
Last year, the 500-year-old Zeyrek Cinili Hammam — built during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent by the celebrated Ottoman architect Sinan — reopened to the public after a painstaking 13-year restoration.
Alongside a functioning hammam, it also houses a museum explaining its history and the Ottoman ritual of bathing.
“The restoration somehow turned into an archaeological dig” that gave insight into how the hammam once looked, museum manager Beril Gur Tanyeli told AFP.
“Around 3,000 pieces of missing tiles were found which helped solve the puzzle of why this hammam was called Cinili” — Turkish for “covered with tiles.”
The beautiful Iznik tiles that once lined its walls were exclusively produced for the hammam, with no other bathhouse having such a rich interior, museum officials say.
Although most were damaged by fires or earthquakes, or sold off to European antique dealers in the 19th century, some are still visible.
The restoration also exposed several Byzantine cisterns beneath the hammam.
“Sinan the Architect is believed to have built the hammam on top of these cisterns to use them as a foundation and as a source of water,” Tanyeli said.


In ancient Rome, bathing culture was very important and it was “traditional for traders to wash before entering the city, especially in baths at the (city) entrance,” archaeologist Gurol Tali told AFP.
During the Ottoman empire, bathing culture had its golden age, with the ritual symbolising both bodily cleanliness and purity of soul.
In Islam, a Muslim must wash before praying, in an act known as ablution.
Hammams were also a place for celebrating births and weddings.
“Baths were used not only for cleansing the body but for socialising, relaxing, healing and even celebrating important life events,” with special rites for brides, soldiers and those who had undergone circumcision, Tali said.
Since households at the time did not have running water, hammams were an essential part of life until the 19th century, with census figures from 1638 showing there were 14,536 public and private baths in Istanbul, the museum says.
And that tradition has survived until today.
“You come here to get clean and leave handsome,” said Zafer Akgul, who was visiting one of the city’s hammams in the city with his son, telling AFP he visited often, particularly during religious feasts or for a wedding.
“We don’t want this tradition to die.”


That is where Istanbul’s ancient hammams can serve a bigger purpose, Tali said.
“Restoring historical baths in Istanbul and putting them to use may be the most effective way to transfer cultural heritage to future generations,” he said.
Another nearby bath house from the same era, the Beyazid II Hammam, underwent years of restoration and reopened as a museum in 2015.
One of the largest hammams in the city at the time, some historians believe it was where a notorious male bathing attendant, or “tellak,” called Halil plotted an uprising that in 1730 overthrew Sultan Ahmed III.
For Manolya Gokgoz, who does publicity for Cemberlitas Hammam, another 16th-century bathhouse built by the royal architect Sinan, the connection is more personal: her grandmother worked there as a “natir” — a woman’s bathing attendant.
“When I was two or three years old, I would go to the baths in the morning, wash and play by myself until the evening without getting bored,” she told AFP.
For Gokgoz, the tradition lives on — although mostly among tourists, which for her is a shame.
“In the past, we used to go to the hammam with our mothers and grandmothers. Now 70 percent of our customers are foreign tourists and 30 percent locals,” she said.
These days, the hammam experience — which lets bathers relax in hot, warm or cool pools alongside extras like massages or peeling — is quite expensive, with the basic service costing around $100.
Celebrities, both Turkish and international, often visit Cemberlitas, with the last being Spanish actor Pedro Alonso — the character Berlin in the Netflix hit “Money Heist” — who visited in September.
“Hammam is not a luxury, but a need,” Gokgoz said.
“Yes, it’s not like in the past because we have hot water at our fingertips, but we need to keep this tradition alive.”

Topics: Istanbul

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John Krasinski named People magazine’s ‘sexiest man alive’

John Krasinski named People magazine’s ‘sexiest man alive’

Updated 13 November 2024
Reuters
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John Krasinski named People magazine’s ‘sexiest man alive’

  • The actor was especially excited to tell Blunt the news, saying “there was a lot of joy involved in me telling her“
Updated 13 November 2024
Reuters

Actor and director John Krasinski was named People magazine’s “sexiest man alive” for 2024 on Wednesday, taking over the mantle from “Grey’s Anatomy” actor Patrick Dempsey.
“Just immediate blackout, actually. Zero thoughts,” Krasinski told People in reaction to the news. The actor is perhaps best known for his sardonic nice guy role in the television comedy “The Office.”
“Other than maybe I’m being punked. That’s not how I wake up, thinking, ‘Is this the day that I’ll be asked to be Sexiest Man Alive?’ And yet it was the day you guys did it. You guys have really raised the bar for me,” he added.
Krasinski, 45, said that out of all of the opportunities he’s had as an actor, being a real-life family man is most rewarding.
He prefers being a husband and father who happily lives in Brooklyn with his wife of 14 years, actress Emily Blunt, 41, and their daughters Hazel, 10, and Violet, 8.
The actor was especially excited to tell Blunt the news, saying “there was a lot of joy involved in me telling her.”
Blunt joked that she plans to wallpaper their house with the cover of Krasinski if he received the title.
“It’s that beautiful thing where when you’re married to someone, you’re constantly learning and changing and evolving,” he said.
“And I’m so lucky to go through all that with her,” he added.
Recently, Krasinski has directed the comedy “IF” and the dramas “A Quiet Place” and “A Quiet Place Part II,” both featuring Blunt in a leading role.
However, he noted that the new title will change things very little around the house.
“I think it’s going to make me do more household chores,” he joked.
The announcement is included in this link: http://people.com/sexiestmanalive

Topics: John Krasinski

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The 2025 Grammy Award nominations are about to arrive. Here’s what to know

Updated 08 November 2024
AP
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The 2025 Grammy Award nominations are about to arrive. Here’s what to know

  • The 2025 Grammy Awards will air Feb. 2 live on CBS and Paramount+ from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles
Updated 08 November 2024
AP

NEW YORK: The 2025 Grammy Award nominations are just around the corner — who will compete for the top prizes?
Nominees will be announced during a video stream live on the Grammy website and the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel on Friday at 8 a.m. Pacific and 11 a.m. Eastern, kicking off with a pre-show 15 minutes earlier.
A host of talent is on deck to announce the nominees, including Gayle King, Jim Gaffigan and a long list of past Grammy winners: Brandy Clark, Kirk Franklin, David Frost, Robert Gordon, Kylie Minogue, Gaby Moreno, Deanie Parker, Ben Platt, Mark Ronson, Hayley Williams and last year’s best new artist recipient, Victoria Monét.
Only recordings commercially released in the US between Sept. 16, 2023 through Aug. 30, 2024 are eligible for nominations, so don’t expect to see album nods for Future’s “Mixtape Pluto” (though Future and Metro Boomin’s “We Don’t Trust You” is very likely to score a nomination), George Strait’s “Cowboys and Dreamers,” Tyler, the Creator’s “Chromakopia,” or “Warriors,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first full post-“Hamilton” musical with Pulitzer finalist Eisa Davis.
There’s plenty of unknowns going into the announcements: Will Beyoncé and Post Malone receive nominations in the country music categories following the success of their massive albums “Cowboy Carter” and “F-1 Trillion,” respectively, even though they are megastars previously not directly associated with the genre?
Will Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” the biggest song of the year that combines his country twang with the familiar sample of J Kwon’s 2004 rap hit “Tipsy” dominate?
The 2025 Grammy Awards will air Feb. 2 live on CBS and Paramount+ from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Topics: Grammy Award

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